P'ang Yun (740-808) was a well known Chinese Zen Layman.
He was once selling bamboo baskets. Coming down off the a bridge, he stumbled and fell.
When Ling-chao saw this she ran to her father's side and threw herself down.
"...
continue...

Posted on Dec.30.2012 @ 09:55PM EDTbyoldwinemak
so lets get into it then..
leo says its all about stopping your thoughts..but leo how long can you hold your breath/ leo..what happens after you stop thought..what happens next?....
how do you function after ? do you continue the no thought idea? what comes right after no thought? another no thought?
advise owm

No need to hold your breath. Thoughts are not connected with breath.Well you just do it if you can stop your thoughts. You will know what happens. And what happens next... But I think you cannot stop your thought even a minute and you go back to thinking again.

the breath and thought are interconnected
if you havent realised this yet..then you are not an avid meditator.maybe you havent as yet sat zazen..you make the glaring statement that stopping thought is enlightenment..your own words..yet you cant tell us what happens when this oocurs...i really feel leo my friend you should check yourself and understand what zazen is and its true purpose..
THE BREATHLESS STATE.....i will shortly within the next few days expound heavily about what all the fuss is about and hopefully we can all see what the Buddha had in mind...
the differing levels of samadhi..instant enlightenment..the whole ball of wax..
thanks...by the way..its called MOMENT TO MOMENT AWARENESS...

Quote: "the breath and thought are interconnected
if you havent realised this yet..then you are not an avid meditator.maybe you havent as yet sat zazen..you make the glaring statement that stopping thought is enlightenment..your own words..yet you cant tell us what happens when this oocurs...i really feel leo my friend you should check yourself and understand what zazen is and its true purpose..
THE BREATHLESS STATE.....i will shortly within the next few days expound heavily about what all the fuss is about and hopefully we can all see what the Buddha had in mind...
the differing levels of samadhi..instant enlightenment..the whole ball of wax..
thanks...by the way..its called MOMENT TO MOMENT AWARENESS...".........

We all have about 15 000 thoughts a day whether we meditate
or not. Perhaps advanced beings like Leoj have only 15 thoughts a day
(like 'shall I eat water melon or ice cream or take a nap? etc) but he more than makes up for it by
posting about 15 000 topics a day on ZenGuide instead. lol

For some sensible and 'enlightened' advice about 'stopping thoughts' in meditation, and
whether it's realistically possible or even desirable, some people here could
do worse than check the following out :

_/|\_ (got this from some guy
on ZFI. They’re very enlightened there. Cool isn’t it?

Topic closed!149046

Reply from leoj99

Dec.31.2012
11:11PM EDT

Well could you imagine the energy you could save if you can stop all those thoughts. And all those thoughts are or mostly useless who whats the point of wanting them to prolifirate if you are not stupid...lol

15,000 thoughts to 30,000 thoughts..lol.. no wonder most people are very tired at the end of the day even if they are not working...lol

Yeah I am not thinking yet no one of the thinking people could keep up with my topics... good you put that in.. It save me of putting another topic about it..which actually it came to me today..lol

Topic closed!149048

Reply from leoj99

Jan.01.2013
01:47AM EDT

So whats so precious in 15,000 to 30,000 thoughts a day...

Maybe you just have used 10 at most for the day for a useful purpose.... the rest are completely outrageous and useless ..Don't you know that thinking uses much of your energy. So you have used up your precious energy uselessly.

That is precisely the purpose of zazen is to consolidate your energy by just focusing on your breath to avoid thoughts or to silence the monkey mind.

Maybe you just have used 10 at most for the day for a useful purpose.... the rest are completely outrageous and useless ..Don't you know that thinking uses much of your energy. So you have used up your precious energy uselessly.

That is precisely the purpose of zazen is to consolidate your energy by just focusing on your breath to avoid thoughts or to silence the monkey mind."...

I understand and agree. So maybe I’m not
enlightened after all.

15 000 thoughts is going to take a lot of mental and
spiritual energy that could be more beneficially used in meditation, which
itself requires a lot of energy.

I don’t know what the Buddhist definition of a complete
thought is. I make 15000 thoughts a day, that is in 16 hours (not counting
sleep) to be about one thought every three or four seconds. Most thought is repetitive, habitual, obsessional,
compulsive, negative or neurotic. That
said, I don’t see how you can avoid having lots of thoughts if you’re writing a
book or something like that.

I tend to get quite bored in meditation and feel I ought to
be having interesting thoughts or insights instead of just letting it all go or
subside until the water becomes clear. Fact
is that even if we spend 4 or 5 hours a day in sitting meditation (which let’s
face it not many of us do) we still have 10 hours left in which to have
interesting thoughts and insights like: there’s only a finite amount of
knowledge or information I can absorb but there’s no limit to wisdom.We can only acquire unlimited wisdom in
meditation, not through reading or discussing.

Leoj: I didn’t intend
being rude when I corrected your English.It’s just easier to read when subject and verb agree. Apologies.

listening to the feelings of this body brings us to land like a boat on water listens to waves and currents of the water body below and above, within listening capability sets out to meet shore to shore of all sounds motion landing

Topic closed!149062

Reply from leoj99

Jan.01.2013
05:17PM EDT

Quote: "Quote: "So whats so precious in 15,000 to 30,000 thoughts a day...

Maybe you just have used 10 at most for the day for a useful purpose.... the rest are completely outrageous and useless ..Don't you know that thinking uses much of your energy. So you have used up your precious energy uselessly.

That is precisely the purpose of zazen is to consolidate your energy by just focusing on your breath to avoid thoughts or to silence the monkey mind."...

I understand and agree. So maybe I’m not
enlightened after all.

15 000 thoughts is going to take a lot of mental and
spiritual energy that could be more beneficially used in meditation, which
itself requires a lot of energy.

I don’t know what the Buddhist definition of a complete
thought is. I make 15000 thoughts a day, that is in 16 hours (not counting
sleep) to be about one thought every three or four seconds. Most thought is repetitive, habitual, obsessional,
compulsive, negative or neurotic. That
said, I don’t see how you can avoid having lots of thoughts if you’re writing a
book or something like that.

I tend to get quite bored in meditation and feel I ought to
be having interesting thoughts or insights instead of just letting it all go or
subside until the water becomes clear. Fact
is that even if we spend 4 or 5 hours a day in sitting meditation (which let’s
face it not many of us do) we still have 10 hours left in which to have
interesting thoughts and insights like: there’s only a finite amount of
knowledge or information I can absorb but there’s no limit to wisdom.We can only acquire unlimited wisdom in
meditation, not through reading or discussing.

Leoj: I didn’t intend
being rude when I corrected your English.It’s just easier to read when subject and verb agree. Apologies.

......
".......

hahaha... no need to apologize... its the truth that I am not good in English .. but I can understand and speak other languages aside from English.

Topic closed!149065

Reply from leoj99

Jan.01.2013
05:19PM EDT

But 15,000 to 50,000 thoughts a day... oh my goodness...lol

It seems it is like driving 120 mph on the freeway with speed limit at 65 mph..

Topic closed!149066

Reply from leoj99

Jan.01.2013
05:21PM EDT

I really don't understand why most people violently react with the suggestion of stop thinking...lol

Quote: "the breath and thought are interconnected
if you havent realised this yet..then you are not an avid meditator.maybe you havent as yet sat zazen..you make the glaring statement that stopping thought is enlightenment..your own words..yet you cant tell us what happens when this oocurs...i really feel leo my friend you should check yourself and understand what zazen is and its true purpose..
THE BREATHLESS STATE.....i will shortly within the next few days expound heavily about what all the fuss is about and hopefully we can all see what the Buddha had in mind...
the differing levels of samadhi..instant enlightenment..the whole ball of wax..
thanks...by the way..its called MOMENT TO MOMENT AWARENESS...".........Focus upon breath and let go thought ... that is how they are interconnected .. hahahaWhen the sitting, there is quiet or calmWhen thoughts stop naturally, awareness reflects the truth.All things aligned ...It is then some have passed through the gateless gate